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Nobu was born in Saitama, Japan. When he was only seven years old, his father died in a traffic accident, and he and his two older brothers were raised by his mother. After graduating from high school, he worked at the restaurant Matsue Sushi in Shinjuku, Tokyo, for seven years and was invited by a regular customer, who was a Peruvian of Japanese descent, to open a Japanese restaurant in Peru. In 1973 at age 24, he moved to Lima, Peru and opened a restaurant with the same name of Matsue in partnership with his sponsor. Nobu was unable to find many of the ingredients he took for granted in Japan and had to improvise, and it was here that he developed his unique style of cuisine that incorporated Peruvian ingredients into Japanese dishes.

He later moved to Alaska, USA and opened his own restaurant, but it was destroyed almost immediately by a fire.

The Matsuhisa Restaurants (in Beverly Hills, Aspen, Athens, Mykonos and Munich (München)) are privately owned by the Matsuhisa family, while the Nobu Restaurants are co-owned by Nobu, Robert De Niro, Meir Teper, Drew Nieporent,[1] and managing partner Richie Notar.[2] Nobu Matsuhisa also co-owns Nobu Hospitality with Robert De Niro and Jimmy Sweis. The first Nobu Hotel & Restaurant located inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is currently open.